Painting is like silent poem, said Simonides, poet from ancient Greece.Paintings are icons, doors to the Platonian world above the heavens. Paintings on my blog are just those icons, which lead a viewer into the magic world of harmony and beauty. Artists who present their achievements on my blog have a very different cultural and national background, they represent variety of artistic traditions and schools

Eva Aeppli born in Zofingen (2 May 1925 – May 4, 2015) , Aeppli spent her childhood in Basel where she attended the School of Decorative Arts. Her father was Waldorf educator and child development author, Willi Aeppli, who worked with Rudolf Steiner.She moved to France in 1952 with her second husband, the sculptor Jean Tinguely. Subsequently she began her artistic career as a painter in Paris. From 1954 to 1960 Aeppli and Tinguely shared a living and working space, at the Impasse Ronsin, opposite Constantin Brancusi's which had been there since 1916 They belonged to the Parisian avantgarde with other artists Daniel Spoerri, Yves Klein and Niki de Saint-Phalle. Eva Aeppli became interested in sculpting figurines in textile and in bronze.In 1975, she discovered astrology thanks to Jacques Berthon and the painter Eric Leraille. Fifteen years later, she decided to combat poverty, oppression and ignorance by creating the Myrrahkir Foundation. Aeppli lived until the age of 90 and died in Normandy, France.Wikipedia

Tsuchiya is best known for her surrealist paintings that explore Peruvian Indian mythological themes. She attended the School of Fine Arts in Lima and studied under Fernando Szyszlo, a figurative abstract expressionist painter, Carlos Quizpes a muralist and Manuel Zapata Orihuela a realist painter. She traveled to Paris in 1960 to studied at the Sorbonne and the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Her work from this period in Paris is dark in tone and has a minimalist aesthetic. Upon returning to Peru her work began to take on elements of fantasy and narrative incorporating aspects of Peruvian Indian imagery and mythology which European influences. Her work has been exhibited internationally as part of a small Peruvian Surrealist movement in the 1970s. Important exhibitions include the 1979 Sío Paulo Biennale and Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.(.latinart.com)

Fernando De Szyszlo Valdelomar (born 5 July 1925) is a Peruvian painter, sculptor, printmaker, and teacher who is a key figure in advancing abstract art in Latin America since the mid-1950s, and one of the leading plastic artists in Peru.Szyszlo was born in Lima, Peru; his mother was Peruvian of Spanish-Indian descent, and his father a geographer from Poland.Wikipedia

Takesada Matsutani is a Japanese, contemporary, mixed-media artist born on January 1, 1937 in Osaka, Japan. He is a member of the Gutai group since 1963. His well-known work involves a technique of blowing a gust of air into a puddle of vinyl wood glue, creating bulges, bubbles, and drips. He was inspired by the way the glue dried, using it as his ideal medium for many of his works.These natural formations were a constant inspiration throughout most of his artwork thereafter. He is also known for his large, colorful, geometric pieces made using oil and acrylic on canvas.Later in his career, Matsutani began eliminating the use of color, and alongside the wood glue, started incorporating the use of graphite into his pieces.

Romare Howard Bearden was born on September 2, 1911, to (Richard) Howard and Bessye Bearden in Charlotte, North Carolina, and died in New York City on March 12, 1988, at the age of 76. His life and art are marked by exceptional talent, encompassing a broad range of intellectual and scholarly interests, including music, performing arts, history, literature and world art. Bearden was also a celebrated humanist, as demonstrated by his lifelong support of young, emerging artists.(Romare Bearden Foundation)Bearden grew as an artist not by learning how to create new techniques and mediums, but by his life experiences. His early paintings were often of scenes in the American South, and his style was strongly influenced by the Mexican muralists, especially Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. Shortly thereafter he began the first of his stints as a case worker for the New York Department of Social Services. During World War II, Bearden joined the United States Army, serving from 1942 until 1945. He would return to Europe in 1950 to study philosophy at the Sorbonne under the auspices of the GI Bill.(Wikipedia)

Twins Seven Seven 1944 - 2011, in Ogidi, Nigeria, was a Nigerian painter, sculptor and musician.Born in Nigeria in 1944, Prince Twins Seven-Seven ’s career began in the early 1960s. He has since become the most famous representative of the renowned Oshogbo school of painting, which is at the heart of Yoruba civilization. His work reflects the cosmology and mythology of the Yoruba culture.Though is given name is Taiwo Olaiyi Salau, Twins Seven-Seven has chosen this pseudonym as a reference to his birth: he is the sole survivor of a line of seven sets of twins.A multidimensional artist, Prince Twins Seven-Seven is also recognized as a singer, musician, actor, writer and poet. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout the world, notably at France’s National Museum of Modern Art – Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Houston Contemporary Arts Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. and the National Modern Art Gallery in Lagos.His encounter with the graphic arts and painting came about in 1964 when he met a group of artists known as the Mbare Mbayo Group. This is where the Oshobgo School had it's origins.Twins Seven-Seven began by drawing on paper. Drawing and engraving have remained a constant and central reference in his work. The originality of his line comes from the fact that it appears to unfold blindly, with no plan, through a progressive invasion of the entire surface. This technique gives his paintings their extraordinary detail.With the exception of a few paintings which represent "profane" themes, the universe of Twins Seven-Seven is thoroughly rooted in the Yoruba imagery, both religious and folkloric.Twins Seven-Seven was named UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2005,in the presence of Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria and Chairman of the African Union. The ceremony took place on Africa Day. This was the “recognition of his contribution to the promotion of dialogue and understanding among peoples, particularly in Africa and the African Diaspora.” ( africancontemporary.com )

Mixed-Media

El Anatsui (born 1944) is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria. He has drawn particular international attention in recent years for his iconic "bottle-top installations", distinctive large-scale assemblages of thousands of pieces of aluminium sourced from alcohol recycling stations and sewn together with copper wire, transformed into metallic cloth-like wall sculptures in a way that can "draw connections between consumption, waste, and the environment".Wikipedia